Lowveld-born cinematographer part of Emmy-winning team

Samantha Tarrant-Phillips was one of the team of cinematographers behind the Emmy-winning Netflix series Wild Babies.

Filmed across the globe, from Antarctica, Costa Rica, Indonesia and Canada to Namibia, Zambia and South Africa, the series won the Daytime Emmy Award on December 15 last year for outstanding travel, adventure and nature programme.

The programme, which follows a multitude of wild born babies, including lions, orangutans, elephants and grizzly bears, to name a few, and narrated by the English actress Helena Bonham Carter, was also nominated in several other categories.

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These included outstanding cinematography, outstanding directing team for a single-camera daytime non-fiction programme, outstanding single-camera editing and outstanding sound mixing and editing.

The talented Tarrant-Phillips filmed in Zambia and Mala Mala within the Sabi Sands Game Reserve along with two other camera operators.

Tarrant-Phillips, who was born and bred in the Lowveld and matriculated from Uplands College in 2011, said she had followed and filmed a pride of lions in Mala Mala for six months for Wild Babies and then spent a month in Zambia, filming another pride there.

“We filmed the series during Covid-19. It was pretty amazing for me, because it was during lockdown, and I got to be in the bush. There were no guests, so we had free rein. We just had beautiful wildlife and no guest vehicles, so that was really special,” she said.

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“We found out about the nomination quite a while ago. We received multiple nominations, but the main one we won was the best travel, adventure and nature programme. I am really proud of the team, and it was a really amazing one. We did this through Covid. There were lots of ups and downs, cancelled shoots and reorganising.”

Tarrant-Phillips said she was invited and received a ticket to attend the awards, but unfortunately could not go.

“I didn’t know we would win. We were up against some really amazing shows like Down to Earth with Zac Efron and Island of the Sea Wolves.”

Wild Babies was released in 2022 and is currently available for streaming on Netflix in South Africa.

More about Tarrant-Phillips:

“I always knew I wanted to do something with wildlife,” said Tarrant-Phillips.

“After school, I spent a year in the bush. I did my EcoTraining course, and I did a full Field Guide Association of Southern Africa [FGASA] year course that includes level one guiding, advanced birding, walking safari and so on.

“I then went on to do my BA in film at AFDA in Cape Town. I did my BA in motion pictures and specialised in cinematography. After three years, I graduated cum laude.”

Tarrant-Phillips said during her studies in Cape Town, she had worked in a gear rental studio, and when she finished, she left her job and Cape Town and moved back to Mbombela.

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“Two weeks later, I received an email from my old boss saying they had received an email about a position for an assistant on a penguin series. And that was basically the start of my career.

“I went and worked for two months as an assistant to this really cool producer who works in the UK. She had said she was going to be back in Zambia at the end of that year and would put me in touch with her production company. The rest is history. I went to Zambia five times that year to film,” she said.

“What I love most about my career is that I am sometimes up at 03:00 in the morning, going out to find lions and leopards when most of the world is not awake yet. I am out seeing the moon set and the sunrise and it is a beautiful feeling.

“There is a real adrenaline to filming big cats.”

She said a lot of sleeping is done by the big cats, and during these periods, she reads books and listens to a lot of music, but in between, when the big cats hunt or interact with one another, it is beautiful to watch.

“There is a lot of adrenaline that goes into filming a hunt and making sure you actually capture it. It is really not easy.”

She said the other things she loves is just being in nature.

“You’re with like-minded people, and while you’re waiting for the cats to do something, you often experience lots of wonderful moments you wouldn’t normally notice,” she said.